Getting serial no of hard disk.

Question

i am currenly using this code to get the serial no of hard disk.

 Dim hddsn As String
        Dim query3 As New SelectQuery("Win32_DiskDrive")
        Dim search3 As New ManagementObjectSearcher(query3)
        Dim info3 As ManagementObject
        For Each info3 In search3.Get()
            hddsn = info3("SerialNumber").ToString.Replace(" ", "")
        Next

this works fine, but the only issue is.( in case if more than 1 hard disk(internal or external) is there

i want the serial no of only that hard disk(not partition) where my software is installed.

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Pradeep Yadav (Social MSDN)

Answer 1

I think you can do that by finding which physical drive is associated with the partition: www.codeproject.com/Tips/399828/Get-a-list-of-physical-disks-and-the-partitions-on

Also, on Windows 7 and below, the drive serial number returned by WMI has its characters swapped such that "ABCD" is returned as "BADC", so...

Imports System.Globalization
Imports System.Management

Class Form1

    Public Class MyDriveInfo
        Property Name As String
        Property Serial As String
        Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
            Return (String.Format("Name: {0} Serial: {1}", Name, Serial))
        End Function
    End Class

    Function GetOsVersion() As Decimal
        Dim os = My.Computer.Info.OSVersion
        Dim parts = os.Split("."c)
        Dim ver = CInt(parts(0)) & "." & CInt(parts(1))
        Return Convert.ToDecimal(ver, CultureInfo.GetCultureInfo("en-GB"))
    End Function

    Function GetPhysicalDriveSerialNumbers() As List(Of MyDriveInfo)
        Dim info = New List(Of MyDriveInfo)
        Dim scope As New ManagementScope("\\" & Environment.MachineName & "\root\cimv2")
        Dim query As New SelectQuery("SELECT * FROM WIN32_DiskDrive")
        Dim queryResults As New ManagementObjectSearcher(scope, query)

        Dim sn = ""
        Dim osVersion = GetOsVersion()

        For Each mo As Management.ManagementObject In queryResults.Get()
            Dim di As New MyDriveInfo

            For Each prop As Management.PropertyData In mo.Properties

                If prop.Value IsNot Nothing AndAlso prop.Name = "Name" Then
                    di.Name = CStr(prop.Value)
                End If

                If prop.Value IsNot Nothing AndAlso prop.Name = "SerialNumber" Then

                    ' Swap the characters if OS is Windows 7 or less
                    sn = CStr(prop.Value)
                    If osVersion <= 6.1D Then
                        Dim sn2 = ""
                        For i = 0 To sn.Length - 1 Step 2
                            sn2 &= sn(i + 1)
                            sn2 &= sn(i)
                        Next
                        di.Serial = sn2.Trim()
                    Else
                        di.Serial = sn.Trim()
                    End If

                    Exit For

                End If

            Next
            info.Add(di)

        Next

        Return info

    End Function

    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim serials = GetPhysicalDriveSerialNumbers()
        TextBox1.AppendText(String.Join(vbCrLf, serials))

    End Sub

End Class

EDIT: Although it worked for me with Windows 7, it doesn't retrieve the serial numbers on my Windows Server 2003 - nothing like a serial number appears in the PropertyData.

HTH,

Andrew

Answer 2

Andrew - I had to change your code slightly because here, WMI returns a HEX string with the ASCII values of the serial number (and reversed)

4457572D414D415A - Actual return
57442D574D415A41 - Reversed
W D - W M A Z A

WMI is a great, inconsistent mystery to me........

Here is the output: (X's for privacy & paranoia)

Name: \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE1 Serial: OCZ-XXXXXXXX77E9XN4
Name: \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0 Serial: XXXXXXSH
Name: \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE2 Serial: WD-WMAZAXXXXXXX

The OCZ drive is my boot drive.